How to Establish Healthy Habits at College

College is the perfect time for you to reinvent yourself. Especially if you are moving to another town, it creates the best environment to become the person you always wanted to be: smart, healthy and cool.

But if it isn’t exactly the person that you are nowadays, don’t panic. You still have plenty of time in life so just start putting yourself together from now on and following some very-easy-to-pull-off kind of tips so to bring some healthy habits to your college life.

Healthy Habits at College: Have your goals always in mind

You are in college because you want that degree, right? Or because someone forced you and you thought it would worth a shot. Either way, you must have a reason why you are there and a goal you would like to achieve.

So make sure that you keep it in your mind. It will give you strength along the way when you feel like procrastinating, or that is just too hard to change your habits.

Healthy Habits at College: Plan your day in advance

The best way to establish healthy habits is by planning your day in advance. And this is because a bad habit doesn’t need to be thought through, one of the main reasons why they are so fascinating. They are easy to start and to keep, and they are very good hiding that they will create problems for you in the long-term.

On the other hand, if you were to stop for a while and consider what you are doing, you would notice that you were making a wrong decision. So whenever in doubt if you are creating a good or a bad habit, just analyze it for a while and make a correction if needed.

Healthy Habits at College: Spot your triggers

Unfortunately, we all have our weaknesses, and we even enjoy some of them. They give us some guilty pleasures that we care so dearly and that we that we are trying to ignore their consequences all the time.

So if you want to establish healthy habits you need to know what your triggers are, the things that happen, when you forget about your schedule, skip class, or leave your study behind. It can be your need to be popular or a crush. In any case, remember your goals, look for everyday health tips for college students, and remain stronger.

Healthy Habits at College: Reserve fun time (and make the most of it)

It is important to say here that healthy habits aren’t boring ones. College is also the perfect time to socialize, make new friends, and fall in love, so don’t take this opportunity from you.

So when you are creating your schedule, make sure that you will be reserving time for fun. Your hobbies and me-time should also be included there – if you don’t have any, it is also your chance to add them to your life.

Healthy Habits at College: Never study-eating

It is a common bad habit to eat while studying or watching TV. But, in the long term, it can increase your chances of becoming obese for not experiencing the food itself.

When you do it, your brain takes much longer to understand that you have already eaten for being distracted by something else, and it will request more food as a consequence. So make sure this isn’t a habit that you will create while college, even if you are running out of time before your exams.

Healthy Habits at College: Make sure that you sleep

Another essential thing that you need to take care is your sleep. It is understandable if you find hard to sleep in a different bed in the beginning or to share your space with a roommate that you might not even like much. But this is life for a while, and you will have to learn to deal with it.

If you don’t sleep well, nothing else will work for you. So you will have to make sure that your eyes are closed for long enough so to recharge your batteries and process everything you have learned throughout the day.

Healthy Habits at College: Congratulate yourself

Here is one of the secrets of establishing healthy habits: congratulating yourself for your achievements. If you keep sending messages to your brain about how hard is to exercise and eat well, it will be very hard to make these habits stick. You might even do it for a while, but as soon as you find an excuse, you will be running away from them.

But if you really believe that they are the best thing for you and congratulate yourself for each milestone achieved, you will be more likely to persist on your new habits – you can even promise yourself some treat for each accomplishment if it helps.

The bottom line

It takes times to create a habit so don’t be annoyed at yourself if it seems impossible to achieve. You still should be able to do if you persist long enough and understand why you are doing it. You can also use apps or peer pressure to stop you from procrastinating, whatever works for you.

What matters here is that you take the opportunity created by a college to establish healthy habits. They will define the person that you will be when you finish your studies, so do the best that you can.

GOstamina is your daily guide to living a healthy lifestyle. Here, you will find topics in physical, emotional, and spiritual health. We offer you valuable and inspirational tips that are aimed to extend your stamina and longevity.